


Passion Project

by BriMarie



Series: The Book of Love: Rini Drabbles [1]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: AU, Angst, Drabble, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff, Hurt and comfort, I take suggestions, Lime, Multiple Genres, high school musical the musical the series - Freeform, hsmtmts, rickini, rini - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24320989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: Ricky struggles to find something he is passionate about for his English class, so he gets a little help from a friend.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen and Nini Salazar Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Rini, ricky and nini - Relationship
Series: The Book of Love: Rini Drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757938
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62





	Passion Project

**Author's Note:**

> First time doing a series like this! Hopefully you like it. This is where I’ll store all my smaller fanfics (under or a little over 2k words) for Rini for now on.

“Oh for fucks sake! It’s useless!” Ricky shut his laptop rather harshly and sunk his body lower into the common room’s couch.

“What’s wrong? Still can’t find a topic for your English class?” Nini asked taking a sip of her lemonade. 

“Yes, I don’t know why it’s so damn hard for me to find something to gush about for like 5 minutes in front of the class. I don’t even know why my professor is making me do a speech on something I care about in front of a bunch of 20 something year olds anyways. It seems a little personal; don’t you think?”

“Yeah I can’t argue with you on that one.” She scooted closer to him and opened his laptop. “Here let me help.” She began typing something which caught his attention.

“Ah here we go, how about you talk about music? I know you really like playing guitar. Maybe you could bring it in.” She suggested.

Ricky grimaced at the thought of singing in front of people. He has never performed in front of anyone except Nini and once with Big Red. He waved the idea off. “Pass.” 

“Okay, how about you talk about a show or movie you like? I know you’re really into The Office and the Kill Bill series. Those would be pretty cool.” 

He shook his head. He did love those things, but not enough to talk about it for a few minutes. “Nah, plus I’m pretty sure some kid already planned on talking about Tarantino films.” 

She sighed, closing his laptop. “Welp, I don’t know how to help you Mr. insatiable. Happy searching though. I’ve gotta go to class in like 7 minutes, so I’ll catch you later.” She said giving him a quick hug and walking away.

He sighed as he watched her figure slowly disappear into the hallway. He really tried his best to think of something he’s passionate about, but still couldn’t. He decided to text his other best friend Big Red.

R: Dude, I for the life of me cannot think of one thing I love enough for my speech. It’s due in a few weeks. Any ideas?

BR: Well have you considered possibly writing about someone you love instead of something?

Ricky pauses in his position. He indeed did not think of that possibility. But besides family members, he couldn’t think of someone he loved.

R: No I did not think of that at all. But who the hell would I write about? I’m not interested in anyone rn.

BR: Are you serious? Dude I thought it was obvious who I was referring to.

R: What’re you talking about?

BR: Dude write about Nini! You could probably write a whole book about your feelings for her if you wanted to.

Ricky almost dropped his phone when he read his response. He didn’t love Nini like that, or at least he didn’t think he did.

R: What’re you going on about? I don’t like her in that way!

BR: Surrreee yeah okay. It seems like you two are the only ones who don’t know that you guys are crazy for each other.

R: Shut up! We don’t think of each other that way!

BR: Dude no other girl has ever made you all giddy like she does. You may not notice it, but you literally will become ten times happier when she’s around. You don’t act like that with any of our other female friends. Explain how that’s not love to me.

Ricky stopped his hands before he retaliated. He’s never noticed that she lit up his heart whenever she entered a room, and when she left he always felt like something was missing. Okay so maybe his relationship with her is a little more intense than he thought.

R: Okay so I admit that we do have a special bond, but that still doesn’t change the fact that we’re just really really good friends.

BR: You should see the way she looks at you when you’re not looking and vise versa. Also the way you two talk about each other when the other isn’t around is so passionate. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought you guys had been dating for years.

For the third time in a row, Big Red has made Ricky think hard. He loved talking about how amazing she was to anyone that would listen, and yes he admits to occasionally sneaking a glance at her from time to time, but that was totally normal right? But he didn’t realize that she was doing the same. That thought put a smile on his face.

R: Okay so maybe she’s a little more than a friendship.

BR: Yeah no shit!

R: But she’s also less than a relationship.

BR: But you could make it a relationship if you asked her how she felt.

R: I don’t know man. It could make things weird between us.

He’d be lying to himself if he said he hasn’t thought about what it was like to be with Nini. His main fear was that if they would get together and split, they wouldn’t talk anymore or maybe things would be awkward.

BR: Don’t knock it before you try it Ricky. Instead of imagining all the negatives think of all the positives. You guys could be ten times happier together than you already are.

R: How could you be so sure she’d say yes?

BR: Trust me. She will.

Ricky tossed his phone to the other side of the couch. He was left more confused and lost after Big Red’s advice than he was before he texted him. He had a lot more than his project to think about now.

***

Ricky couldn’t sleep well that night. He had been tossing and turning thinking about Big Red’s words all night. 

He kept playing the she loves me, she loves me not game in his head, and it was driving him wild. 

The one good thing that he got out of all this overthinking was that now he knew how he felt about her. And he knew exactly how to tell her.

***

“Hey Neens, so I did my speech and I did pretty good on it thanks to you.” Ricky said barging into her dorm room and plopping down next to her on her bed. She made a mental note that she seriously needed to start locking her door.

She furrowed her brows and put down the book she was reading. “Uh I’m glad you did well, but I didn’t do anything.” 

“Actually you did. Matter of fact, I literally couldn’t have done it without you. Do you mind if I read the speech for you?” He said holding up the folded notebook paper. She smiled and scooted closer to him. “Yeah go for it.” To her surprise, he held her hand firmly and lifted it to his heart. She also didn’t expect her heart to skip a beat at the sudden skin contact.

“When I was assigned this project a few weeks ago, I had no idea what the hell I was going to talk about. It was actually kind of a huge slap to the face because I had realized I wasn’t really passionate about anything. Sure, I love playing guitar sometimes, and sure I love skateboarding with my pal Big Red, but none of those things were worth rambling about for five minutes or so. It took one of my good friends words to truly open my eyes to make me realize the one thing I adore more than anything else in this world. The one person that has been consistent in my life since we were practically in diapers and always had my back. This is the one person in this universe that I could never get tired of, and maybe possibly the one person I have stronger feelings for than I care to admit. My best friend Nini.”

He took a break between words to look at her reaction and was greeted with her glassy eyes staring at him with a facial expression he can’t read. He debated on stopping right there, but figured he was in too deep to stop now.

“She’s always able to make me laugh when I’m down. She’s always supported every thing I decided to pursue as long as it wasn’t going to hurt me or others. She gave me my nickname. She was my very first best friend, and she always gave the best advice. But most importantly she makes me feel whole. I’d be lost without her. Most people are passionate about their hobbies, sports, or their work. But I, Ricky Bowen, am proud to say that I’m the most passionate about my relationship with my best friend. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”

He placed the folded paper back into his hoodie pocket and looked down at his shoes nervously. He felt his face burning and was a little scared of how she’d take his confession. “Um so yeah, uh I just came here to say that. I totally get it if you’re a little weirded out a bit-

Nini interrupted him by gently shifting his head to face hers. He noticed that she had been crying, but she didn’t look sad. Matter of fact, she was smiling. “Ricky, that was probably the sweetest and most thoughtful thing anyone has ever said to me. It’s an honor to be the topic of your passion project.” She wiped the remaining tears off her face. 

“You liked it?” He asked hopefully. She nodded frantically. She jumped on him causing them both to fall back on her bed with her on top. The action had surprised him, but he hugged her back just as tight. She looked at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He began rubbing the area that she had just put her lips on.

“Woah what was that for?” He asked with the cutest facial expression that she’s ever seen on him. She giggled and rested both hands on his face. “It was my way of saying thank you.” 

“If I had known that was how you said thank you, I would’ve wrote a speech about you years ago.” She laughed and smacked his chest playfully resulting in both of them going into fits of chuckles.

The moment was interrupted by her roommate, Kourtney, walking in on the scene. She dropped her notebook and averted her eyes when she saw them in the rather suggestive position. “Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to uh...interrupt you two.”

The two quickly got off of each other and began blushing. “No Kourt, it’s not what it looks like!”

Kourtney raised her hands as if she were surrendering. “Hey it’s none of my business. I’ll just see my way out.” She closed the door behind her leaving the two dumbfounded and embarrassed teens.

“Welp, I’ll never hear the end of that.”

“You should really start locking your door.”

She playfully pushed him back down on the bed and lied down beside him. She grabbed his hand and lifted it to her heart like he did before. “Hey.” She said causing him to look at her. She kissed his hand.

“I’m passionate about you too.” She watched as his smile grew to both sides of his face, and she loved that she was the one to put it there in the first place. She hoped it could be one of many. Though neither of them actually said that they were more than friends, they both knew that in that moment they were one step closer to being something more.

They’ll get there together one day. One step at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I do take suggestions!


End file.
